Weekend winter golf in South East England

[Ed Tilley]

My 2 brothers, dad and I have been on a number of 3 day golf trips around these fair isles over the last 20 years. However, family and work commitments mean this is no longer really possible / allowed . What I'm trying to arrange therefore is the odd weekend day trip to courses over the winter months.

My criteria is that it needs to be within 2 hours drive (absolute max) of Oxford and that the price for a day's golf in the winter is less than £80, and preferably cheaper. This obviously opens up a vast array of courses from Burnham to Kington to Hankley Common. Looking through various websites it looks like the real problem is that we want to play at the weekend as a number of clubs seem to not allow, or severely restrict, visitors at the weekend.

I had thought of West Hill or Woking initially but that looks like visitors may be restricted at the weekend. To save me trawling through large amounts of golf club websites I thought I would first tap into the vast knowledge of people on this website who may have similar experience. We are a 4 but are happy to split into pairs if that is what the club requires. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Mark Chaplin]

Ed you will struggle at many decent clubs as realistically there is as little as 4.5hrs of tee times in the winter. At Deal the artisans have the tee from 11.30 at the weekend so there's not much time to get members out. Many clubs will have similar issues.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Nice fourball.


Have you played Cleeve Cloud, Broadway(yet to see) , Minchampton Old or Kington. The three of them come highly recommended as a special kind of golf not really akin to Heathland.   Sean has done tours of all four and they all play well in winter as long as there's no snow on the ground.

And I'll bet at least one will let you play golf in winter for £80 - for all four!. Enjoy.

[Tom Kelly]

Ed,

You might be able to get a game at Liphook if there aren't any competitions on. It's £78 for the day on a weekend from November through to the end of March. Try contacting them and see what they say. It stays pretty dry and very very rarely do they need to use winter greens.

Huntercombe have some good winter rates and I've played on a weekend there before but I guess if you're in Oxford, you've probably been and would like to go further a field?!

Hockley is meant to be good, I'm told it stays very dry and they offer a "One fourball a day" at £120, whatever that really means? But it does say visitors at weekends after 2pm, though I assume that changes during the winter?

I reckon if you give most clubs a call and are flexible on the dates to start with you'd manage to get a game during the winter months.

[Ed Tilley]

Thanks for the advice - this is certainly proving more problematic than I thought. Huntercombe is a bit close as you say Tom.

I have looked at Liphook but not contacted them yet as that is right at the top end of the budget. West Hill could do Sundays but it was £95. I'll let everyone know where I actually end up going. Currently looking at East Berks which I've played before and enjoyed but the others haven't.

[Paul Gray]

2 hours, promoting my home club shamelessly as ever, gets you to Hayling. A particularly good bet if the rain doesn't stop soon!

[Ed Tilley]

2 hours, promoting my home club shamelessly as ever, gets you to Hayling. A particularly good bet if the rain doesn't stop soon!

I have looked at Hayling but the winter green fee wasn't on the website so I'd put it to the back of my mind. I'll give them a ring to check the fees and availability.

[Adam Lawrence]

Burnham has an offer on its website that includes 27 holes for £80 that is valid on Sundays (36 holes is £95). But that's full whack, I imagine winter rates are lower. Easy access from Oxford too - we're on the west side of town and I've made it there in an hour and a half, just along the A40 and pick up the M5 at Cheltenham.

[Ed Tilley]

Hayling is £50 for a round at the weekend and they can do one of the Saturdays we suggested. Looks like we are heading to the seaside Thanks for help.

[Mark Chaplin]

West Hill offer visitor rates at the weekend? That shocks me as it's difficult to play there as a members guest as the course is always packed.

[Ed Tilley]

West Hill offer visitor rates at the weekend? That shocks me as it's difficult to play there as a members guest as the course is always packed.

I asked if they could fit us in on a Saturday. They said it wasn't allowed but offered me one Sunday in November.

[Paul Gray]

Hayling is £50 for a round at the weekend and they can do one of the Saturdays we suggested. Looks like we are heading to the seaside Thanks for help.

No problem.

If the Pro happens to be in the shop, kindly tell him what a great ambassador for the club I am. He might just be shocked.